They said...

Please find below a few documents that I was honored to receive and that pertain to my teaching.

In February 2010, UTK launched its inaugural Faculty Appreciation Week. Students were able to submit videos talking about some of their favorite professors. Anne Buckle and Rachel Hickman submitted this piece.

"To Dr. Sébastien Dubreil for his friendship, the simple authenticity of his life, and the incommensurabilty of what he brings to intellectual growth."Kodjo AdabraAssistant Professor of FrenchSUNY Geneseo

From the Daily Beacon, the UT newspaper, January 20, 2010.(...)Anne Buckle, senior in the College Scholars Program and music education, is another student anxious to recognize a special professor. “Sébastien Dubreil is a French professor, and he is my mentor for College Scholars — totally a volunteer, so he doesn’t get paid for it,” Buckle said. Dubreil was personally supportive, Buckle said, when Buckle was planning a trip abroad to France. “I studied abroad in France for a semester,” she said. “He helped me learn what it would be like and is very supportive.” In addition to these things, Buckle said Dubreil has been a wonderful academic resource. “Academically, he’s been wonderful and just like a friend,” Buckle said. “He talks to me about career options. He’s just as much about helping students grow personally, though, as he is helping them grow as a scholar.” Buckle said one of the most impressive things about Dubreil is his innovative teaching style. “He’ll set up a video conference between a French class and an American class,” she said. “(His lessons) are very innovative, and that’s his way of teaching that most people don’t do.” More than anything else, Buckle said Dubreil’s enthusiasm made him the great teacher he is. “He always has a great big smile and is just so open and friendly, which makes for a great professor,” she said. These stories, among many others, will be showcased during the week of the faculty appreciation events.

Some say the best way to learn a language is to go to the respective country and become immersed in the culture. However, this is not always a feasible option for students. Whether the issue is money or time, not all are able to study abroad. Faculty of the French program within the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures, however, found a way to work around these problems.In French 334, a class on conversation, an exchange has started between the University of Tennessee and the ENSEIRB (l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Electronique, Informatique et Radiocommunications de Bordeaux), a French university for computer science and other technological majors.“ENSEIRB (is an) exclusive French university (that) trains students for careers in computer science, electronics and other related areas,” Mary McAlpin, French professor, said.Once a week two students from the UT French class are paired with two students from ENSEIRB and via Web cam are able to chat for about an hour and fifteen minutes.Speaking like this creates an environment for students to talk to native speakers and pick up on little details of the French language that one may not normally learn in a classroom. This also gives the French students an opportunity to work on the finer details of their English. In a field such as computer science, the English language can be useful.McAlpin said these French students are just as eager to learn about the United States and the English language as they are to speak of their own country.“English is an important language for students’ interest in pursuing such careers, and the French students are highly motivated to speak with UT students of French,” McAlpin said.This program was started by French professor Sébastien Dubreil and English professor Susan Médina. The ultimate goal of this program is to give students an opportunity to ask questions about France, learn about the French culture from the French and practice their speaking skills with someone who will and can help with the nuances of the language.The students are given the option of who speaks what language and for how long. Some American students speak the entire time in French, or they have the French students speak in French.In the class before each video session, students prepare questions for the other students with the professor. These questions are then sent to the school in France so that they have time to translate and to think about their answers. Many questions revolve around culture and stereotypes that Americans and the French may have.“I’m using this technology for the first time this semester in my French 334 (conversation) class,” McAlpin said. “Judging by the intensity of the conversations students have been having and the responses they have been writing describing their discussions, the exchange has been highly successful, and I certainly intend to use this technology again in the future.”Thus far the topics of conversation have ranged from immigration to culture, movies and music. However, the effectiveness of the class relies on the students’ motivations and desires to learn.“Speaking with students in France via Web cam has been a great learning experience,” Miranda Edds, finance major with a minor in French, said. “In a normal classroom, we can feel embarrassed to speak French for fear that we sound strange. Speaking one-on-one with French students has given us the push we need to not only speak and hear more French, but also practice a better accent.”

Students' Comments

Here are comments from classes I have taught at University of Notre Dame and University of Tennessee, Knoxville.